Ben Kweller

Benjamin Lev "Ben" Kweller (born June 16, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

A former member of Radish, Kweller has released five solo albums and appeared on several collaborations.

Early life

Ben Kweller was born in San Francisco in 1981. In 1982, his family relocated to Emory, Texas, where his father, Howard Kweller, became the town's first doctor. In 1986, the Kwellers moved to the larger Texas town of Greenville.

Kweller was exposed to music at a very early age. Howard taught Ben how to play the drums when he was seven years old. For the next year, they would play together almost every night after Howard got home from work. Howard sang and played guitar while Ben played the drums. The duo played songs by The Beatles, The Hollies, Jimi Hendrix, and other artists of the 1960s. Howard is also a longtime friend of Nils Lofgren, a neighbor of his. Kweller has mentioned in interviews that meeting Lofgren greatly helped his exposure to music. When Kweller turned eight, someone showed him how to play "Heart and Soul" on the piano and the youngster immediately began to create his own songs using the same chords. By the time he was nine, he had a dozen original compositions under his belt and entered a songwriting contest sponsored by Billboard magazine, where he won an honorable mention.

Ben Kweller (album)

Ben Kweller is the self-titled third album by Ben Kweller. It was released September 19, 2006 on ATO Records.

One Minute Pop Song

For the 9 weeks leading up to the release of the album Ben Kweller previously took footage of himself and made an internet mini-show called "One Minute Pop Song." Each episode would usually run for 2–6 minutes.

Topics of the videos were varied. Some of the topics were about a fan who sent in a cover version of a song, talking about laying down the tracks and playing all the instruments on the album, showing a tour of the studio, Ben Kweller rating himself on each instrument, telling a story about Neil Young, and talking about how he learned to play the drums from his father.

Recording process

On his Myspace website, Ben described the making of the album as "very exciting, emotional and challenging." He explained that since he played all the instruments on the album it "was a big change for me and it produced something really intimate and special. It's such a different way of working but if you can pull it off it makes a very cool and unique sound." He also described a song on the album, "A bonus for me, and you, is I think I might have written my best song while I was in the studio. It's called 'Thirteen'. It's very personal and almost hard for me to listen to."

On My Way (Ben Kweller album)

On My Way is the second album released by Ben Kweller. All songs were written by Ben Kweller.

Recording Process

On My Way was recorded at the same studio (Sear Sound) as Sha Sha, but the approach was completely different. "I really wanted to capture the band that had been backing me up for the past year and a half. We recorded everything live, in one room without headphones and hardly any overdubs. I'm very proud of On My Way's spontaneity and honesty. I'm especially proud of the song "On My Way". I feel it's one of my best."

Touring

The touring band for the album featured John Kent from Radish and Jason Roberts on guitar. On My Way was their first headlining tour in France. Ben Kweller also co-headlined with Death Cab For Cutie and Incubus in the US. Kweller also performed in Japan with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the White Stripes. Towards the end of touring, Kweller opened for The Black Crowes at one of their Hammerstein reunion shows.

Track listing

On My Way

On My Way may refer to:

Film and TV

Music

Albums

Songs

On My Way (Lea Michele song)

"On My Way" is the second single released by American singer and actress Lea Michele, taken from her debut studio album Louder (2014). It was released via digital download onto iTunes on May 4, 2014. The song was written by songwriters Ali Tamposi and Fernando Garibay, along with music producers Marcus Lomax, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson and Clarence Coffee Jr., and was produced by The Monsters and the Strangerz and Kuk Harrell.

Live performances

Michele gave her first live performance of "On My Way" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on March 19, 2014, after revealing on her Twitter account that the song would be the next single from Louder. Broadway.com reported of the performance: "The blossoming pop star proved once again that nothing beats a live performance."

Critical reception

The song has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Casey Lewis from Teen Vogue wrote: "And while "On My Way" boasts a powerful bass-heavy beat that's a bit of departure from the recent tracks we've heard from her, the lyrics are just as emotionally charged as what we've come to expect. This time around, she touches on a battle between her head and her heart (hey, who hasn't been there!)"

On My Way (Louis Armstrong song)

"On My Way" is a Louis Armstrong song that appeared on the album Louis and the Good Book in 1958 and was issued with "I'll String Along with You" as a single in 1959. It features a solo section with Louis and Trummy Young.

A variant of I'm on My Way (traditional song), Armstrong's version starts with "On My Way" or "I'm on My Way" (or similar phrases in various versions) and then goes into a chorus "On my way now, got on my traveling shoes...".

The song is no relation to "Oh, Lawd, I'm on My Way!", a song sung by Ella Fitzgerald the previous year (1957) on the Porgy and Bess album by Fitzgerald and Armstrong. That song begins: "Porgy and all, I'm on my way to a heav'nly lan'".

References